Method for forming wax ornaments on a wire screen

ABSTRACT

A method of producing an artistic object on a wire screen background comprising the steps of pouring wet glue onto the wire screen in a general direction from the back of the screen to the front of the screen, attaching a paper mache filler to the beaded glue on the front of the screen, covering the filler and the screen by molten wax and coating the wax with a fixative layer of shellac. The further requirement of the present method is that the time in between the first step and the second step be sufficiently small such that the placement of the filler is properly done at a time when the glue layer is still wet.

tlnite tates t 1191 Torplund Sept. 17, 1974 [54] METHOD FOR FORMING WAX 2,416,521 2 1947 Freiberg 161/89 x ORNAMENTS O A WIRE SCREEN 2,422,387 6/1947 BalL, 161/89 X 3,597,291 8/1971 Swarmgen 156/63 UX [76] Inventor: Lorna A. Torplund, 728 Cherry 3,716,441 2/1973 Black et al 156/61 X Ave., Apt. 6, Long Beach, Calif. 90813 Primary Examiner-Charles E. Van Horn 22 il 2 1973 Assistant Examiner" l"homas E. Bokan Attorney, Agent, or Fzrm-Fulwmler, Patton, Rieber, [21] Appl. No.: 336,427 Lee & Utecht [52] US. Cl 156/59, 35/26, 40/160, [57] ABSTRACT 156/61, 156/63 156/280 156/297, 161/18 A method of producing an artistic object on a wire 161/19 161/89 161/235 screen background comprising the steps of pouring [51] Int. Cl. B44c l/18, B32b l/lO Wet glue Onto the wire screen in a general direction [58] held of Search from the back of the screen to the front of the screen, 56/297 /26 /125 attaching a paper mache filler to the beaded glue on 161/13 235 the front of the screen, covering the tiller and the screen by molten wax and coating the wax with a fix- [56] References (med ative layer of shellac. The further requirement of the UN ED ST S PATENTS present method is that the time in between the first 225,802 3/1880 Cunningham 156/63 step and the second step be sufficiently small such that 1,089,996 3/1914 ,4 the placement of the filler is properly done at a time 1,797,998 3/1931 when the glue layer is still wet. 2,122,043 6/1938 2,365,034 12/1944 Wirtz 161/89 x 7 Claims, 6 Drawmg Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention:

The present invention relates to method and apparatus for forming ornamental objects, and more particularly to method and apparatus for attaching threedimensional wax coated objects on a wire screen background.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Artistic endeavor can be characterized by its continued expansion of the list of materials utilized to create new visual effects or the utilization of old materials in a new manner for a particular artistic result. One such material which has found wide application in artistic efforts has been wax. Wax has been found particularly useful to artists for its manipulative convenience, characteristically requiring minimal equipment in its use, such equipment being normally available in any home. Wax has also had extensive use as a substance for producing art objects due to its characteristics of coloration and translucence, and particularly for the freedom it gives the artist in creating an artistic design. Another material or structure gaining acceptance among the public for artistic creations has been the wire screen, such as any commercially available window screen, generally used as the background medium for the visual effect it produces. Heretofore all attempts combining the visual effects of wax and the effects of the wire screen have had limited success due to the inherent mechanical incompatibility of wax with wire screen. This incompatibility resides in several characteristic features of wax, i.e., brittleness at low temperature, poor bonding characteristics with a wire and poor, or nonexistent, tensile strength characteristics. Particularly when generating effect of a three-dimensional character deposited on a wire screen the cantilever effect of the three-dimensional object places the wax in tension at the bonding area. Such three-dimensional effects are typically composed of a paper filler which is then encapsulated or coated with molten wax on the screen forming the background. Thus either the paper object has to be attached directly to the wire screen or the wax must provide the bonding effect, where in both cases a bond must be effected between the object and the wire screen. The wire screen characteristically forms a poor bond with materials of general availability and only full encapsulation thereof is usually adequate for making a bond. The wire screen, furthermore, is elastic and therefore provides an inadequate structure for direct wax attachment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly it is the general purpose and object of the present invention to provide a method of attachment of a three-dimensional wax object to a wire screen which involves materials conveniently available and which provide the freedom of expressing the various artistic nuances in order to properly function as artistic medium. Other objects of the invention are to provide a method for producing three-dimensional artistic displays in wax deposited on a wire screen background.

Briefly these and other objects are accomplished according to the present invention by encapsulating the individual wire strands of the screen with glue, attaching a display object or filler to the glue, coating the object with molten wax and spraying the exterior of the wax with shellac. The encapsulation of the individual strands in glue provides both a method for developing a bond thereto and for rigidizing the wire screen, thus providing sufficient structure for wax deposition. The final, or the exterior, coating of shellac further provides the requisite surface hardening of the object, protecting the wax from abrasion and crumbling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of an artistic object constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the particular steps of the method as practiced according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1 an ornamental display generally designated 10 comprises a rectangular frame 11 having stretched thereacross a wire screen 12 for providing the background for a three-dimensional decorative object 15. The wire screen 12 can be any typical window screen, either composed of individual strands of aluminum wire woven to form a latticework, or copper strands similarly woven, where the use of copper or aluminum screening is determined by the particular visual effect produced. Object 15 may be any combination of ornamental objects forming a particular artistic composition, each object being attached to the wire screen and coated by layers of wax and shellac according to the apparatus and method further described hereinbelow.

As shown in more detail in FIG. 2 the ornamental object 15 comprises a three-dimensional paper mache filler 25, of a coloration and configuration determined to satisfy the particular artistic concept, such filler attaching along one surface thereof to the individual strands of the wire screen 12. The individual strands of screen 12 are each encapsulated, or coated, by a glue layer 26 of any conventional home use glue 36, such as the glue commercially traded under the trade name GLU-BIRD, manufactured and distributed by WIL- l-IOLD GLUES, INC., Santa Fe, California, or any other glue generally available for home use. Thus the filler 25 is placed directly onto the wire screen 12 coated with the glue layer 26, forming a mechanical bond with the screen. The glue layer 26, after drying or curing, forms a tensile structure between the attaching surface of the filler 25 and around the individual strands of screen 12, thus providing both rigidity to the wire screen and a mechanical bond by which the tiller 25 is supported. The filler 25 may then be colored or tinted in any fashion desired in order to produce a particular visual effect. Filler 25 is then coated by a wax layer 27 formed by pouring molten wax 37 from above the screen 12 such that wax 37 flows down over the filler 25 and onto the glue coating on the wire screen 12, totally enclosing the tiller. On the exterior of the wax layer 27 an outer shellac layer 28 of any clear shellac 38 is deposited, one such shellac being distributed by MAR LAK PRODUCTS, Gardena, California,

where the shellac layer 28 provides the requisite surface layer of relatively high tensile strength, reinforcing the wax layer in tension, and thereby adding the permanency and structural rigidity necessary for any displays intended for extended use. Specifically the shellac provides the fixative element comparable to the fixatives used in two-dimensional artistic displays, e.g., being equivalent in function to any resin fixative used in charcoal drawings.

As shown in FIG. 3 the wire screen 12, stretched between the frame members ll, is first exposed to a coating of glue 36, where the coating is generally deposited, or poured, onto the screen disposed in a substantially horizontal position and oriented such that the flow direction as determined by gravity of the wet glue is from the back of the screen to the front of the screen, thus assuring of localization a larger quantity or beading of the glue 36 on the forward side of the screen 12 to provide an area which has the longest drying time or curing time on this side of the screen surface, thereby allowing for an extended time in which the positioning of the tiller 25 can be made. The next consecutive step in the method of deposition described herein constitutes of reorienting the screen 12 and the frame 11 to a frontup orientation as shown in FIG. 4. [t is intended that this step be performed at a time subsequent to the hardening of the surface of the glue layer 26 and prior to the hardening of the interior thereof, or after skinhardening of the glue, such that a pressure exerted on the tiller 25 during the placement thereof onto the glue will rupture the respective surfaces and provide or expose wet glue to attach or bond to the tiller 25. This particular interval of time has been found by experiment to be most optimal at three to five minutes after deposition of the glue specifically referred to above. In applications where other glues are used the particular interval of time for the other glues is dependent on the drying speed or the curing speed thereof. The filler 25 is then left on the surface of the glue for a period sufficiently long to permit the glue to harden. Once the filler 25 is affixed to the screen 12 the frame and the screen are reoriented at an incline as shown in FIG. 5, according to the particular effect desired and molten wax 37 is poured thereon forming the wax layer 27. The frame 11 and screen 12 are then left in this position for a sufficient time for the wax to harden by cooling. The last consecutive step of the method, illustrated in FIG. 6, with the object generally aligned in a vertical plane, comprises the coating of the exterior of the wax with a layer of shellac. Preferably this coating is accomplished by spraying shellac out of an aerosol can thus assuring a relatively uniform thickness of coating and preserving the structure of the wax which ordinarily would be partly destroyed in a brush-on process.

Some of the many advantages of the present invention shall now be readily apparent. The invention provides a sequence of steps by which an artistic creation generated from media which is both conventionally available and which allows a wide latitude in expression where the mechanical or structural inadequacies of the media are overcome by successive layers of fixative and where the whole structure is mechanically bonded to the screen. Other advantage of the present invention is the latitude and convenience the method described herein provides to form any composition desired.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A method of producing a three-dimensional artistic object covered with wax and deposited on a wire screen background, comprising the steps of:

stretching a wire screen onto the back of a frame;

depositing glue in a direction from the back of the screen to the front of the screen, whereby said glue, by gravity, collects in beads at the front of said screen;

placing a paper filler onto the front of said screen to contact said glue;

coating said filler and screen with molten wax; and

depositing an exterior coating of shellac on the outside of said wax coating.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprismg:

maintaining said screen in a back-side-up orientation following said deposition of said glue for a length of time sufficient to allow said glue to skin-harden.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein:

said placing of said paper filler includes providing sufficient force onto said filler for breaking the skin hardened glue, thereby exposing wet glue for contact with said filler.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein:

said coating of shellac is deposited by spraying.

5. A method for depositing wax objects onto a wire screen background, comprising the steps of:

pouring glue onto the screen oriented in a substantially horizontal front-down plane from a direction above the back side of said screen;

drying the skin of said glue while said screen is in the horizontal front-down alignment;

placing a paper filler onto the front of said screen to break said skin and contact the underlying wet glue;

coating said filler and screen with molten wax; and

depositing an exterior coating of shellac on the outside of said wax coating.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein:

said coating of shellac is deposited by spraying.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein:

said molten wax is poured to coat said filler while said screen is maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation with said filler above said screen.

=l =l l 

1. A method of producing a three-dimensional artistic object covered with wax and deposited on a wire screen background, comprising the steps of: stretching a wire screen onto the back of a frame; depositing glue in a direction from the back of the screen to the front of the screen, whereby said glue, by gravity, cOllects in beads at the front of said screen; placing a paper filler onto the front of said screen to contact said glue; coating said filler and screen with molten wax; and depositing an exterior coating of shellac on the outside of said wax coating.
 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising: maintaining said screen in a back-side-up orientation following said deposition of said glue for a length of time sufficient to allow said glue to skin-harden.
 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein: said placing of said paper filler includes providing sufficient force onto said filler for breaking the skin hardened glue, thereby exposing wet glue for contact with said filler.
 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein: said coating of shellac is deposited by spraying.
 5. A method for depositing wax objects onto a wire screen background, comprising the steps of: pouring glue onto the screen oriented in a substantially horizontal front-down plane from a direction above the back side of said screen; drying the skin of said glue while said screen is in the horizontal front-down alignment; placing a paper filler onto the front of said screen to break said skin and contact the underlying wet glue; coating said filler and screen with molten wax; and depositing an exterior coating of shellac on the outside of said wax coating.
 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein: said coating of shellac is deposited by spraying.
 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein: said molten wax is poured to coat said filler while said screen is maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation with said filler above said screen. 